A glance at the network of road and railway communications, which forms an essential feature in the scheme for efficient control, shows how comprehensive are the detailed arrangements for the protection of the North-West Frontier.
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The outbreak of 1897, and the consequent isolation of the Malakand, showed the necessity of a railway line from Nowshera to Dargai; though a broad gauge line would certainly help better to develop the trade which is yearly increasing. The road up the Khyber Pass has been so far improved that heavy guns can go with ease as far as Torkham, on the Afghan border. The broad gauge line extends now to Jamrud. Work on the still incomplete Loi Shilman railway came to a standstill during the late Mohmand expedition. It is finished and ready for use as far as Shahid Miana, about six miles up the Cabul River gorge, beyond Warsak.
The Pathan borderland; a consecutive account of the country and people on and beyond the Indian frontier from Chitral to Dera Ismail Khan, by CM Enriquez, 21st Punjabis (Thacker, Spink & Co, 1910)
Archive for the ‘Afghanistan’s railways’ Category
The Pathan borderland in 1910
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010Kandahar railway on War Office map
Sunday, December 27th, 2009www.angloafghanwar.info is an online resource for anyone interested in knowing more about the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1878-1880. It is also the home of the Second Afghan War database project, a collection of names, family histories and stories concerning those who participated in this lesser-known campaign from the days Queen Victoria’s British Empire.
The website has this 1895 War Office map, which, interestingly, shows the never-built railway from the Indian (now Pakistani) border at Chaman to Kandahar.
British reconnaissance parties looking for a route for the proposed railway had reached Kandahar by December 1879, but they were in enemy country and so it was difficult to identify an optimal route. The British authorities realised it would not be possible for the railway to reach even as far as Quetta before the end of the war, and so the work was given a lower priority. When a new cabinet was formed under Gladstone in April 1880 they put the planned extension to Kandahar on hold.
Pakistan Railways still runs to Chaman, and plans for an extension as far as Spin Boldak resurface every so often – it even appears on some more recent maps, though it has never existed.
Are you there Moriarty?
And finally… while Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick Dr Watson may not really have been in the Second Afghan War, it seems a Moriarty was…
Uzbekistan signs Mazar-i-Sharif contracts
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009Uzbek president resolves to adopt measures on construction of railroad Hairatan-Mazar-e-Sharif
28 November 2009 18:31:13 +5 GMT
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a resolution “On measures on realization of project “Designing, construction, establishment and commission to exploitation of railroad line between Hairatan and Mazar-e-Sharif” on 20 November.
The resolution was adopted for developing Trans-Afghan railway corridor, expanding transit transportation on railway line Tashguzar-Boisun-Kumkurgan, and broadening export potential of enterprises of Uzbekistan.
Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) adopted decision on 30 September 2009 to allocate grant to the Government of Afghanistan to finance project “Designing, construction, establishment and commission to exploitation of railroad line between Hairatan and Mazar-e-Sharif” and Uzbekistan Temir Yollari state joint stock railway company was selected as general contractor.
The resolution said Uzbekistan Temir Yollari and Ministry of Public Works of Afghanistan initialled contract on construction of railroad for US$129 million.
The document noted that Uzbekistan Temir Yollari will participate at the project as general contractor and Boshtransloyiha OJSC as general designer, as well as legal entities, realizing goods (works and services) to general contractor in line with the signed agreements.
The resolution entrusted Uzbekistan Temir Yollari to sign agreements with Uzbekinvest national export-import company on insurance of life and health of all workers, engaged in the project, during their stay in Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan Temir Yollari in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior Affairs, National Security Service, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs was entrusted to adopt measures on signing memorandum of mutual understanding on guaranteeing security of personal, attracted to the project, construction equipment and infrastructure in the territory of Afghanistan with the authorized body of Afghanistan and Collective Security Forces, deployed in Afghanistan.
The resolution set several preferences to Uzbekistan Temir Yollari and its employees, who will participate in the project. In particular, the sum of additional payments to travel allowances, paid to employees of the Uzbek railway company, traveling to Afghanistan to realize the project, and the expenses on providing three meals a day are not included to taxable base to income taxes of legal entities and individuals.
The document said income tax will not be obliged to property, received and handed over within the structures of Uzbekistan Temir Yollari within the framework of the realized project.
Uzbekistan Temir Yollari was also exempted from custom payments, except fees for customs registration, for equipment and materials, imported and exported from Uzbekistan within the project, in line with the list, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan. The document also allowed to export some items, which were banned in line with the legislation.
Ministry of Economy of Uzbekistan in cooperation with Uzbekneftegaz national holding company were entrusted to supply combustive-lubricating materials to Uzbekistan Temir Yollari without interruption.
The ministry will also ensure realization of metal products and cement to the Uzbekistan Temir Yollari on direct agreements on average exchange prices.
Source: UzDaily.com, 2009-11-28
Afghan fruit by rail
Sunday, December 20th, 2009An article on the rail transport of Afghan fruit to markets in India.
Fresh Fruits from Afghanistan to India!
I fondly remember as a youngster – in late 1940′s and as late as early 50′s – the repeated shouts of burly, awesome Pathan vendors in our ‘mohalla’ in Lucknow: “Fresh luscious grapes from Chaman; red juicy pomegranates from Kandahar; “Buy them now, eat them now, lest you repent!”
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But whatever the virtues of the vendors, their assertion about the quality of their products was never in doubt. So with this childhood experience when I read the following lines in P.S.A Berridge’s old classic, “Couplings to the Khyber: The Story of The North Western Railway” I became really nostalgic about the fruits which are certainly no more:
“Built primarily as a strategic line the Chaman Extension Railway served for many years hundreds of tons of luscious fruits — grapes, peaches, and nectarines in particular from Afghanistan found their way to the markets of far-away cities in India. Before 1947, in the summer months, there used to run every day a train with its ice-packaged refrigerator vans destined for places as far away as Calcutta and Madras.”
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Let me now construct this interesting rail transportation story which has a human angle too.Source: Arunachala Grace, Sacred Power Site of South India, 2009-10-18
The Railway Magazine, January 2010
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009There is a short report “Afghan railway progress” on page 91 of the January 2010 issue of The Railway Magazine.
This mentions the Asian Development Bank funding, and describes the Iran to Herat line as “stalled due to both lack of resources and border disturbances”. It reports there are 20 wagon loadings a week to Towraghondi, and 30 daily to Hayratan.
An old locomotive at the Kabul Museum
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Found on Flickr.
Photo of the Day: 4 August 2009
An old locomotive at the Kabul Museum.
One of the first three locomotives in Afghanistan, imported by King Amanullah Khan in the 1920s, is now on display at the Kabul Museum.
A US$ 120 million grant from the Asian Development Bank is due to be used for railway development in Afghanistan.
A feasibility study will be conducted for a rail route connecting the northern town of Hairatan, which borders Uzbekistan, to the western province of Herat. Another route under study will be between Shirkhan Bandar in Kunduz province, which borders Tajikistan, and Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country.
Afghanistan is a landlocked country with no railways.
Photo: Fardin Waezi (UNAMA).
Maps of railways to the borders
Sunday, December 6th, 2009Amongst a collection of Historical Maps of India is Plate 24 Sect. III: Afghan Frontier, SE Afghanistan and west Punjab from the 1893 edition of Constable’s Hand Atlas of India, showing the never-built Chaman – Kandahar railway.
The Digital South Asia Library has a high resolution scan of the 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India map of Afghanistan showing the Russia railway from Merv (Mary) to Kushka (Serhetabat) close the Afghan border.
Herat railway construction
Sunday, November 29th, 2009I’ve put together a page on the project now underway to build a railway from Iran to Herat.
It’s amazing how much more information is available now compared to when I prepared the original notes on Afghan railway history – even quite ancient news reports can now be found online, and access to things like Hansard is so much easier.
Copper mine project underway
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009Jiangxi Copper Group involved in the development of Afghanistan, Aina Ke Copper Project started
2009-7-15 Source: Dajiang Wang – Jiangxi Daily
July 10 Congjiang Copper Group was informed by the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and Jiangxi Copper Corporation to jointly develop copper projects in Afghanistan Aina Ke, July 9 officially under construction.
It is understood that Aina Ke copper from the Afghan capital, Kabul, about 35 kilometers, is considered not yet developed the world’s second-largest copper mine. 7.05,1.56%,1100, The total amount of proven resources, the amount of 705 million tons of ore, with an average 1.56% copper, copper metal content of 11 million tons for the large copper deposit. 20086, In June 2008, China Metallurgical Group Corporation and Jiangxi Copper Group, the investment consortium composed of copper in the development of bid victory. ,50% The project put into operation, the output of not less than 50% of the copper concentrate products will be in accordance with international practice and the same international prices of copper sold to Jiang.
Source: Google translation of Chinese report at Jiangxi Copper Corporation
Not finished yet
Friday, November 13th, 2009An eyewitness report from a logistics company in Herat tells me the railway is “not finished yet”.
